Feb 23, 2011

Dakhla’s peninsula can definitely deliver some good surprises ! If the windsurf/kitesurf Long Distance had to be cancelled due to a lack of wind, there were still somes waves and a small breeze to allow all the sports of the festival to be on the water in one day ! This afternoon, Fouim Labour’s bay was looking like a great watersports playground where all the champions could express themselves and have fun…

Not enough wind for the Long Distance…After an early check and 3 briefings, Philippe Bru - race director - had to quit : the Long Distance could not be run today. In stand-by up to 2pm, the riders have waited till the end, but nothing happened. « We’ll see tomorrow but the conditions need to be optimum, with enough wind and a High tide in order to prevent accidents that can happen on the sand banks » explains Philippe Bru. There are 2 more days to run the race so eveybody is confident as the wind is supposed to be back. Next briefing tomorrow morning at 9am.

Zoher, Dakhla Young local, into the surfing ½ finals !This morning, moroccan top 16 surfers and bodyboarders met in Foum Labouir to battle on the official competitions. If waves were pretty cool for the bodyboard session, leaving the leaders Iddouch, Abdelghafour and Soussi going into the ½ finals, it was a bit more tricky for the surfers because of the tide coming up. It was no problem for moroccan surf championship leaders El Harim, Jrayfi and Barakat to make their way to the ½ finals but that was good to see the young local of Dakhla, Zoher, joining the champions after he’s been qualified during the trials 2 days ago ! Tomorrow, briefing at 8am for the riders to run the end of the competition. Swell should be pumping so we expect a good show, especially in the afternoon as the Longboarders will enter the arena and the time has come for Mc Philips, Chatain, Skinner and Ingleby to show their skills in the local waves.

The « foil » and Outrigger in action! Since this year is introduced on the Festival the « modern sailing » discipline. As an exhibition through the stand up paddle, windsurf and kitesurf supports, the aim is to show another way of sailing. With a foil under their board, frenchies Bruno André (windsurf) and Renaud Madier (kitesurf) showed the potential of their carbon tools in the small waves of Foum Labouir and in a light breeze. Also showed as a « demo », the « outrigger » of Rico Leroy impressed a lot as he was surfing the waves with a team of 3 other paddlers.

During this time…On the other side of the peninsula, the beach of the « camping Moussafir » was welcoming some more kids for the watersports clinics. « We have more than 50 kids every day » says Lotfi, « aged from 5 to 14, these kids come from the local schools of Dakhla. They are all pretty excited and happy to try these sports. Our goal is to see one day one of these kids becoming a champion ». Hawaiian champion Bernd Roedinger (14) and french surfer Benoît carpentier (15) took on their time this afternoon to go and meet the local kids, to share and teach them the basics of windsurfing or paddling.